My work e-mail has a sophisticated filter that screens out as much spam as possible, then compiles that list into an e-mail sent to me every few days to review and make sure that nothing of import got snagged along the way. If every e-mail caught by the filters is indeed spam, I can just go delete them all from the quarantine without them cluttering my inbox.

Not surprisingly, most of the e-mails are for all kinds of prescription drugs - more for Rx's than even for porn (which, given my line of work, is really remarkable).

So I have a solution. The flood of prescription drug spam is likely attributable at least in part to the astronomical cost of prescription drugs through traditional channels. That's of course assuming that the spammers are honest, which I admit is a stretch. But if the pharmaceutical companies would just lower their prices to affordable levels, or the health insurance companies would adjust their price indexes, or the federal government would make reimportation and price negotiation legal again, not only would we be able to afford our medications, but I bet it would cut down on the sheer volume of spam clogging our inboxes.

Eliminate the market conditions causing the intrusion, eliminate the intrusion.

Just a thought.

Labels: health care policy, prescription drugs, spam